Evangelion: Time of new Hymns
by Blockio
Summary: My personal, less dark, take on Evangelion, mixing the TV series with elements of the Rebuild movies, the manga as well as other canons. Later chapters may still contain sensitive subjects such as violence, trauma or death.
1. The Giant of Steel

"Eagle, this is Omega of the fifth airbourne recon group, ground zero is 35.341/138.709, total diameter about three kilometers, hardly visible though the smoke, copy"

First Sergeant Mori was sitting in his seat in an MCH-101, while the pilot maneuvered the helicopter closer to the smoking crater of the explosion that took place 36 minutes ago, waiting for response of Hamamatsu air base.

"Omega, this is Eagle. Move in to 1,5 kilometers of ground Zero and circle around it while keeping the distance, copy"

Two minutes after the explosion, General Malek of the UN combined forces declared the entire Honshu region a restricted area, and already hunderds of vehicles and thousands of soldiers were moving in to secure it.

"Eagle, this is Omega, understood, copy"

The MCH-101 was quickly advancing towards the cloud of smoke, when Mori noticed a metallic surface refclecting the sun through the clouds of smoke.

"Eagle, this is Omega - unidentified object hidden within the smoke, metallic surface, at least thirty meters tall, possibly more, copy"

"Omega, this is Eagle, keep the current distance and circle around target, copy"

The pilot immediately stopped the advance towards the object and started flying towards the peak of Mt. Fuji, when the object started emerging from the smoke

"Eagle, this is Omega, target is moving towards Fuji city, speed approximately 80kph, copy"

"Omega, this is Eagle-" the buzz in ground control HQ was unmistakable, and the radioman's voice was sounding more and more stressed "- do you have line of sight to the target?"

"Eagle, this is Omega, positive. Ninety meters tall, skin looks like it's polished steel, looks human minus a head, copy"

"Omega, this is Eagle, clear distance to three thousand meters, we are attacking the target with SAM missiles, copy"

The pilot of the helicopter turned the machine away from the giant and headed the other direction, while Mori was staring out to the three Kongou-class destroyers launched their guided missiles at the colossus, when suddenly a bright, red beam erupted from what would be the chest on a human, ripping one of the three ships into pieces.

"Eagle to all units, Choukai has been annihilated - steer clear of the target immediately!" the voice behind the radio was clearly panicking. Seconds later, the missiles hit their target and once again clouded the metal giant in smoke. The two remaining Kongou-class vessels were already in the process of reversing away from it, when one of them was hit by the same kind of beam as Choukai, with the same result - the second ship of the Kongou-class, once pride of the JSDFN, was annihilated.

"Eagle to all units! Myoko has been vaporised! Retreat immediately, retreat immedi-" The voice was hysterically screaming, before being cut off.

"Eagle to all Units" the callsign was the same, but the voice was a different one. Far deeper, calmer. "Clear out the area immediately, we will hit the target with cruise missiles in 48 seconds, over"

The next minute, noone dared say a single word. Ten seconds before the announced time of impact, three dots appeared on the horizon, quickly becoming bigger, until they reached their designated target and detonated in a flash of light. The shockwave following the simultaneous detonation of three ballistic missiles was enough to cause the helicopter to be thrown off course by several meters, before the pilot could get a hold of it again an elevated it back to its original height. When the smoke cleared, Mori almost dropped his binoculars at the sight of the giant standing unscathed, facing the sea.

"Eagle, this is Omega - the missiles had no effect on the target, copy"

The response from ground control came the better part of a minute later. "Eagle... to all units. Retreat to your designated home base. Over."

As the pilot turned the helicopter away towards Chitose air base, Mori was staring in disbelief, as the giant of steel was turning to the southwest, towards capital city Tokyo-2.

"Eagle, this is Omega, target is turning southwest, towards the capital!"

This time, the response followed at hand: "Omega, this is Eagle. Understood, over."

During the flight back to Chitose, first Sergeant Mori was thinking about why all troops were ordered to retreat, when suddenly, a blindingly bright flash of light erupted from Mt. Fuji, followed by a column of fire towering over anything else in his field of vision. "Shockwave, Shockwave, Shockwave!", he shouted as the rest of the helicopter crew were clenching to the holding bars inside the helicopter. The shockwave followed minutes later, and despite the distance tossed the helicopter around like a toy, until the piot managed to get it under control again. Mori, staring in disbelief at the cloud of fire still visible, muttered to himself "...so this is the power of an N2 missile. There is no way this thing could have survived"

"Eagle... to all Units. The missile did not hit its target. I repeat, the missile did not hit its target. It was struck by a beam of the being thirty seconds before reaching it, the target is unharmed. Continue carrying out your last order, over" Mori's hands were shaking. The military's ultimate weapon, combined effort of brilliant scientists from all nations, was effeortlessly intercepted. "May the gods help us in this fight... because noone else can anymore" he mumbled, to himself more than to anyone else.

Back in Hamamatsu, the usually quiet and professional ground command office looked like there had been an earthquake. Chairs were laying on the ground without any sense or method to it, all desks and a good portion of the floor were covered in paper prints, everyone was in a state of immense shock, and the moment the N2 missile detonated before hitting its target, the otherwise calm and composed General Malek took the screen of one of the control computers and threw it on the ground. "How could this happen!?" he yelled. "Not even our most sophisticated anti-aircraft systems can hit a N2 missile so that it detonates!" Colonel Mayers, second in command of the base, and visibly wishing he would be far away right now, gulped and then asked, what General Malek intends to do now. The response was stern: "What I am going to do? Like it or not, we'll have to hand over command to those charlatans of NERV and pray that one of their ominous wonder weapons will turn out to be more than a giant memorial to the waste of taxpayer's money!"

Deep underground in the geofront of Tokyo-3, the phone of NERV First Lieutnant Makoto Hyuga rang. He answered the phone with "First Lieutnant Hyuga, NERV ground command", spoken in a calm, but emphatic way. The person on the other end, a deep, male voice responded with "General Malek, UN combined forces. I hereby transfer the task of intercepting and killing the giant of steel sighted at Mount Fuji to your organization." With that, he hung the phone without even so much as waiting for a response of Hyuga.

From the back of the impressive, fort-like command bridge, a rough, deadly calm voice confirmed Hyuga's guess: "Mankind alone simply cannot take on the angels on its own." The voice belonged to Supreme Commander Ikari, the mysterious, cold man who established NERV. "Ready Unit 00 for launch, and have Rei put on her pilot suit." Vice Commander Fuyutsuki, a professor in his late 50s, was reaching for the phone. "An angel has been sighted. Rei, you will pilot Unit 00 in combat." Rei was sitting on a bench reading a book somewhere in a side corridor when the call arrived. She replied with "yes, vice Commander" before she closed her book, got up and headed for the changing rooms. Upon arriving there, she undid the red tie at her neck that held the two blue fabric loops over her shoulders in place, unbuttoned her skirt and let it slide down her legs before opening her blouse. After taking off her underwear, too, she grabbed her plug suit. Rei put the white suit on the floor, stepped in the leg pieces and pulled the piece up to her chest, sliding her arms into the sleeves and settling the triangular back section gently on her shoulers before pressing a button on her wrist that compressed the suit to make it skin tight. Rei left her regular clothing laying on the floor unsorted as she stepped out of the room into the cold air of cage seven, where Unit 00 was kept in. If the came back from this mission, she would pick them up herself; if not, someone else would have to do it anyway. Rei walked over the bridge in front of its head and looked it into its huge red eye for a second, before stepping on its shoulders to get into the entry plug sticking out of its back. The hatch shut, and for a few seconds, the plug was filled with complete darkness and silence. Rei closed her eyes. Over the speakers, she heard first Lieutnant Ibuki announce to her that the plug would be filled with LCL. When the liquid rose above her mouth, she took a deep breath and let it fill up her lungs. After First Lieutnant Ibuki announced that the LCL was being ionized, she saw a quick flash of colors through her eyelids, before things returned back to normal. Opening her eyes for a second, Rei saw the familiar sight of cage seven and closed them again, until the startup procedure was completed and the Evangelion was resting on its launch pad. "Unit 00 - Launch!" This time it was the voice of First Lieutnant Aoba. Rei opened her eyes as she was pressed into her pilots seat by the acceleration forces, and saw the armor plates and occasional lamp rushing by as the magnteic catapult was quickly taking the massive, yellow Evangelion Unit to the surface.

A few kilometers outside of the city of Tokyo-3, the ground elevated and revealed the exit of the catapult shaft. Despite the shock absorbers at the top of the building, the halt was rather aprupt, causing Unit 00's head to rock up and lifting Rei a few centimeters off her seat. "Umbilical cable attached, releasing final safety locks!" This time it was Ibuki again. At each shoulder, two massive bolts retracted, dropping Unit 00 about two meters down until it stood on its own feet. "Rei, we will be sending you a pallet rifle - you know the drill!" Contrary to Rei, Hyuga was virtually bursting with excitement. At arm's length away from the Evangelion, another pice of ground elevated and, after the shutters opened, revealed a rifle. Rei made Unit 00 reach for it, and briefly looked at it before heading out into the direction the display to her left was showing that the angel to be.

As Rei made her way around the mountain, moving as silently as it is possible in a 80 meters tall war machine, she saw the first helicopters circling around the angels. "Now would you look at that. The combined forces are still pretending they have things under control." This remark came from Satsuki Ooi, one of the Second Lieutnants back in HQ. While it got a chuckle of everyone on the bridge except Supreme Commander Ikari, Rei did not pay any attention to it. Instead, she leapt forward a few steps and took cover behind a small montain. "Rei, the angel will be around the mountain in fifteen seconds! Fire as soon as you see it!", Hyuga yelled through the commlink. Instead of answering, Rei was observing the helicopters to predict when the angel would be around the corner, while counting down from fifteen.

When she reached Zero, Unit 00 jumped out of cover and fired two bursts of fire from its pallet rifle. The angel was standing about 400 meters away from her, a giant that looked like a human made of polished silver, without a head or neck, with two black holes, each possessing a faint orange light in the middle, on its chest and a red sphere right below it. For a brief glimpse, the angel and Unit 00 were standing there motionless, looking at each other. Rei pulled up her rifle again and fired another two bursts at the angel, of which all bullets hit their target, but either ricocheted or were absorbed by the angel, which in return generated one of the red beams that vaporized the destroyers earlier. Unit 00 was hit in the chest before it could get back into cover, which had Rei shriek in pain, until the massive body of Unit 00 was completely hidden behind the hill. "Rei..." it was the voice of Commander Ikari "...its body is resilient to this kind of attack, the bullets will be of no use. You have to take it down in close combat." Rei took a deep breath, and her face went expressionless again, as she made her Evangelion jump out of cover and charge towards the angel, while firing short bursts at it, as predicted to no effect.

Four steps before reaching the angel. Rei pushes a button on her rifle, and a bayonet blade unfolds from the barrel overlay.

Three steps. The angel takes a step forward.

Two steps. Unit 00's upper body twists to its right side to gain momentum.

One step. The angel's right arm reaches back for a punch.

Zero steps. Unit 00 leaps forward, brings the rifle around and jams the bayonet into the red sphere on the angel's abdomen.

The angel's swing comes to an aprupt halt, and the air is filled with a sharp, screeching noise, as the red sphere begins to crumble, and the angel melts into a river of liquid metal, covering the landscape beow it in a thick silver coat.

Back in Nerv HQ, everyone except Commander Ikari, who was putting on his usual half-hidden smirk, was letting out a sigh of relief. "Great job, Rei! You saved us all!" First Lieutnant Ibuki could barely contain her joy.

"Rei... return to the launch pod and wait for the ground forces to pick you up." The delightful laughter that filled the bridge was dying down as soon as Commander Ikari spoke. Over the commlink, Rei replied with a single word: "Yes"

 **-Author notes-**

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read up to this point! No big revelations yet, so I will use this space to distinguish between official characters and those made up for this fic (only those who appeared for the first time in this chapter - will be included in every chapter).

 **Obviously canon:**  
Rei Ayanami, Gendo Ikari, Kozou Fuyutsuki, Makoto Hyuga, Shigeru Aoba, Maya Ibuki  
 **Obscure, but still official:**

Satsuki Ooi - NERV techie in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

Raziel - an angel only appearing in the NG proposal. Described as a giant of steel.

 **Made up:**  
First Sergant Mori - some random chopper crew, no relevance to the plot

General Malek - commanding officer of UN combined forces

Colonel Mayers - Malek's second in command at Hamamatsu air base

All military technology and locations are either real or appear in official Evangelion media

-this was rewritten to correct a few minor mistakes and improve a few scenes-


	2. Synchronization Test

"Oh, this is bad... I visit a colloquium for the first time in months, and the first thing I am greeted with is a massive wound right across Zerogoki" Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head scientist of NERV, took off her diving mask as she grabbed the ladder leading out of the pool of LCL filling cage 11. "How bad is it, senpai?" First Lieutnant Ibuki was at the edge of her seat, as Dr. Akagi climbed out of the pool. "Hello, Maya. It's nothing unfixable... but it will cost quite a bit of money, the chest plate and a few helmet plates are totaled, on top of fourth degree burns and a cut across the pectoralis major. How about the nerve pulses?" Dr. Akagi put down the heavy oxygen bottle on her back, as she reached for a towel. "Mostly minor deviations, well within tolerance, but there are three peaks that we should take a closer look at" After she had taken off everything besides her swimsuit, Dr. Akagi sat down next to first lieutnant Ibuki to take a closer look at the readings from the quick test run after Unit 00 returned from its first combat deployment.

Across the orange lake, a group of technicians were busy taking off the burnt plate covering the haed of Unit 00, revealing its dark beige skin. Suddenly, Dr. Akagi's phone rang. "Ritsuko Akagi, Nerv bioengineer?" Dr. Akagi stood up and began walking towards the narrow path to the other side of the cage. "Give me a couple of minutes, Maya... one of the techs said, there was something that I hould take a closer look at. Can you do me a favor and compare the last readings to those created after the first combat simulation? This might help in finding the reason of these peaks" Despite having seen the mask of the Evangelions countless times, Ritsuko Akagi couldn't help but experience a feeling of awe every time she looked at the monolithic creature towering above everything else in the hangar, looking like it was silently condemning everyone who walked in front of its giant, red visor.  
Waves were crashing against the walls of cage 11, as two cargo cranes were lifting the molten remains of the Evangelion's chest plate out of the LCL. Dr. Akagi stopped for a few seconds to take a look at the damage to the inner surface of the plate, hoping that the plating had some effect in protecting against the beam fired at it. When she arrived at the other side of the cage, one of the technicians led her to a fragment of the helmet that had already been taken off. "Doctor, from my understanding, the metal was supposed to melt, without carbonizing." Indeed, a big part of the armor plate's inside was charred, while on the outside of the armor plate, there was no such reaction. "This is an interesting phenomenon" Dr. Akagi replied "may I ask, where this plate was located?" After a short moment of thinking, the technician replied that the plate was located in the mid-section of the helmet, about where the right ear would be on a human. "Oh, I see how it is... underneath this section, there were optical instruments to decrease the distortion while aiming a rifle. It appears that the circuits of said instruments were destroyed when the armor plate over it was hit. Is there anything else I should take a look at, while I am here?" When the technician denied, she started heading back to the other side of the cage, where First Lieutnant Ibuki was eagerly comparing the readings of not just the first, but all combat trainings with previously unknown variables. "Ritsuko-senpai, I also got some of the other major combat tests as comparison values... there seem to be similarities in some readings, but others appear to have no method to them." Smiling at the enthusiasm of the young Lieutnant, Dr. Akagi took a seat next to Ibuki. "Good work, Maya... especially the third test has virtually the same readings for #135/44... I am fairly certain that we can safely link this reading to Zerogoki's fighting instinct, its equivalent to adrenaline, if you will... however, I am not so sure about the second and third peak" "I have one idea as to what it might be, senpai, but I haven't been able to check it yet." With that, she pulled up another chart of a previous test "Look here, senpai... those peaks might be the Eva's reaction to pain... the nerve areas are from the head and chest" Dr. Akagi took a second to move a few streaks of hair behind her ear before taking a look at the charts on the screen. "Yes, yes... that might be it... if this is true, it would also explain the spike at #264/81 in Test 14/11/8-" Dr. Akagi's phone rang again. "Ritsuko Akagi, Nerv bioengineer?" "Doctor..." it was Commander Ikari "push the evaluations back a bit and focus on fixing up the Evangelion. As soon as the armor is repaired, we will be running a synchronisation test." With that, he hung up. "...understood. Maya, we will have to save those things for later, Zerogoki has to be ready for a full-scale synch test as soon as possible. Now where is Takao when you need him...?"

NERV's chief weapon engineer was on the other side of the orange pool giving instructions to the removal of shoulder plates to a group of technicians, as he saw the doctor heading towards him. "Akagi, what's the matter?" he asked in his usual, vigorous voice. "It's probably not news to you, but we need to get Zerogoki fixed up sooner rather than later, the Commander wants to run a - presumably extensive - test on the Eva and Rei, and we better have it complete by then." "Alright," he spoke to his men, "you have heard her - Fukui, Himura, get going to bridge 2 and help change the rest of the helmet plates, all others back to your positions!" The two engineers he tasked with helping on the helmet rushed off towards the grid bridge leading to crane 2, as the rest of the workers returned to where they came from before being called to the short briefing.

With the technicians taken care of, Koji Takao turned around to Dr. Akagi. The two could not look any more different - the doctor in nothing but a one-piece swimsuit and a lab coat with her hair still wet from her dive in the LCL next to the bald, somewhat bulbous engineer with his oil-stained uniform sleeves. "Huh, a synch test... you'd think Rei has proven that she can pilot this thing in battle" he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the Evangelion, of which's helmet only the visor was still attached. "I don't think the test is supposed to test Rei's skills in piloting... I think it is supposed to test what effect confrontation with an angel has on the synch rate between Rei and Zerogoki." After a brief moment of stroking his beard and brooding over the issue, Takao shrugged. "I don't even understand what is going on in the head of my wife... I'll leave those thing to you, Akagi."

As Rei was walking back into the changing room, she saw Commander Ikari waiting outside of it. "Rei." He wore his usual dark blue jacket and reflecting sunglasses. "You did a good job against the angel." Rei nodded briefly. "We will run a synchronisation test on you and Unit 00 as soon as it is out of the repair bay - it is best to not change, you will need to be ready immediately." Rei replied in her seemingly emotionless voice, before heading back into cage 11: "Yes, Commander Ikari."

"Connect main power supply!" The voice of Dr. Akagi was clearly audible over the noise in the control bridge. The response of First Lieutnant Ibuki followed at hand: "Main power supply connected, activation of subsystems in progress!" Second Lieutnant Aoi Mogami followed up with the next step on the checklist: "Voltage increasing, 0.8 to critical... 0.5... 0.3... 0.2... rising!" After a quick look at Commander Ikari, who was sitting in the back of the room filled to the brim with devices to monitor the activity of the Evangelion in the cage beneath the screen of bulletproof glass, Dr. Akagi gave orders to move on to the next step of the activation process: "Initiate second phase of activation!" A few tense seconds of staring at the readings of the Evangelion later, First Lieutnant Aoba finally announced what everyone was waiting for: "The pilot has commenced joining, initial contact was successful." After a brief sigh of relief, Dr. Akagi ordered the second phase systems to be connected to the main circuit. The previously low mind activity of Unit 00 suddenly skyrocketed, as First Lieutnant Aoba announced the system connection to be successful. "Power has been transmitted to the brachial muscles of both arms, nerve link readings are well within boundaries - clear for third stage", Second Lieutnant Mogami confirmed. "Initiate final connection!" Responding to Dr. Akagi's words, First Lieutnant Ibuki read out the readings on her screen: "Satisfied up to point 2580, approaching absolute Borderline! 0.9... 0.8... 0.6... 0.3.. 0.1... borderline breached!" The second she spoke the last word, a deep growl combined with the scound of tearing steel filled the bridge. "The pulses are beginning to flow backwards!" Ibuki yelled, as Unit 00 began freeing itself from the locks holding it in place. "Problems encountered on the third stage! Nerve center elements are rejecting the-" Aoba was interrupted by Dr. Akagi. "Stop contact! Break circuits 1 through 6 and start over!" "Negative", Ibuki responded, "the signal is not being recieved!" Meanwhile, the Evangelion had freed itself from its restraints and began violently punching the walls of the test cage. "Unit 00" First Lieutnant Ibuki yelled, on the verge of panicking, "has gone out of control!" "Abort the experiment immediately! Shut off Unit 00's power supply!" Commander Ikari's usually composed manner was replaced with unmistakable concern. "Yes sir!" Dr. Akagi replied, as she smashed the glass of the emergency shutdown switch and pulled the handle. With a loud bang, the power cord broke away from the Evangelion, followed by the hiss of the two thruster rockets to lessen the impact just before hitting the ground. "Unit 00's power supply has switched to standby, 38 seconds of active time remaining!", Mogami yelled, as the Evangelion began punching the screen of bulletproof glass seperating the brige from the cage. "Step back, Commander! It's too dangerous!" Dr. Akagi shouted, as she grabbed Commander Ikari by the arm and pulled him away from the shattering screen. "Entry plug is being auto-ejected!", Ibuki yelled, her voice tumbling, as the escape jets acceletared the plug out of its socket, only to be aprubtly stopped by the cage's roof. "God dammit! Release the special bakelite! Hurry!" All calmness was gone from Commander Ikari's voice. "Ten seconds until complete shutdown!" Ibuki was shouting over the chaos "Nine! Eight! Seven!" The entry plug was now grinding along a corner of the room. "Six! Five! Four!" "Rei!" Commander Ikari screamed, as the plug got caught in the corner of the cage and dropped to the floor when the jets ran out of fuel a split second after. "Three! Two! One! Shutdown!" The thick, dark red bakelite was slowly filling the chamber, and was only a few meters away when the entry plug crashed down onto the floor behind the now motionless Evangelion. Less than a minute later, Commander Ikari was at the bottom of the cage, running towards the entry plug. When he tried to open the escape hatch, the metal, still hot from the launch, burnt through his thin, white gloves, causing him to briefly flinch before grabbing on to the handle again and under extreme strain open the hatch. The second it was open, he leaned into the entry plug, his voice shaking from concern: "Rei! Are you all right? Rei!" The blue haired pilot could only marginally raise her head and nod. Obviously relieved, Commander Ikari answered with a brief "I see", before rushing off into the direction from which he came, ordering Second Lieutnant Mogami to immediately call the paramedics, something that she had already done.

When they arrived in the cage not even a minute after, the last thing Rei saw before blacking out from the pain were the Commander's glasses laying on the floor in front of the entry plug, the lenses cracked from the sudden heat when touching the hot LCL leaking from the plug.

 **-Author notes-**

After a bit longer than I originally intended, I got around finishing the second chapter of my fic. The only thing I should probably add for those not as familiar with the Japanese names: Zerogoki is Unit 00

Not much else to be said, so here is the usual list of new characters:

 **Obviously canon:**  
Ritsuko Akagi  
 **Obscure, but still official:**  
Aoi Mogami - NERV techie in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

Koji Takao - Engineer/bridge crew of the AAA WUNDER in 3.0

 **Made up:**

Fukui, Himura - random technicians under Takao

-this was rewritten to correct a few minor mistakes-


	3. Misato

Misato Katsuragi was digging through her bag to find the keys for her new appartment. "They have to be somewhere in here, I can't have already lost them", the woman in her late twenties mumbled to herself as she began to lay out the contents of her purse in front of the blue door. She sighed, this was already not going the way she wanted it to; her train had been massively delayed, the administration office had misplaced her id folder causing her to lose even more time, and on top of that, the supermarket in her district was all out of beer. She began checking the pockets of her red jacket, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Are you by any chance looking for these?" The voice belonged to Ritsuko Akagi, Nerv's chief scientist and her friend since college days. Still wearing her trademark lab coat, Dr. Akagi was leaning against the wall of the hallway, the fluorescent tubes being the only source of light this late. "Wh- Ritsuko! Where did you get those from!?" The addressed slightly smirked, a look that in her case could mean anything from amusement to disappointment; in this particular case, it was probably a mix of the two. "You left them on the desk of the administration office when you left. Anyway, Captain Katsuragi, I have heard that you have been quite busy the past years; what brings you back around here?" Hastly stuffing the items spread across the floor back in her purse, she got back up. "Well, I have. Why don't you come inside for a chat?" "I suppose it couldn't hurt", Dr. Akagi replied as she handed over the keys.

When the door opened, they were greeted by the sight of a room filled to the brim with packing boxes - a sight that only worsened the deeper the made their way into the apartment. "Well Misato, looks like you have a long evening in front of you." Cpt Katsuragi let out a sigh of defeat - she knew all too well how long it would take her to unpack all of those boxes. Just as she approached the first one, a stack nearby fell over to reveal a penguin, perplex as to what just happened. "Pen-Pen!" Dr. Akagi smilingly shook her head, as the woman in red grabbed the penguin and embraced it. "At least you had a better arrival in this city than I had." She talked to it in a sweet-as-sugar voice, while the penguin was trying to escape her arms. When she let go of him, Pen-Pen decided to run for it and disappeared somewhere in between the stacked cardboard boxed, outside of his captor's reach. "Eh, looks like I'm back to unpacking all of these, what?" Dr. Akagi walked up to one of the stacks and grabbed the one on top. "Well, I suppose I can help you for a bit. So, what have you done since we last met, Misato?" She answered as she was unpacking a blanket from the box "Well, I've been re-ordered to different departments six times, had to move each time and spent the first month each getting lost for the most part. Apart from that, I have probably signed more sheets of paper than most people will ever see in their lives, for anything from some five thousand new packs of paperclips to five battle tanks. I to this day have no idea how those landed on my desk and not on the desk of the Colonel. How about you, Ritsuko?" Chuckling at the things she just heard, Dr. Akagi answered. "Well, mostly research on my part, with some pretty impressing results on some of them, I'll tell you about those in more detail when you see them in person." Misato raised an eyebrow "Do you mean the Evangelions?" She asked. "Among others, yes. However, those affairs currently are top secret; and as convinced as I am that you will eventually be told about them in great detail, until I get the order to do so from the Supreme Commander, I can't tell you a single word." Ritsuko's phone rang in the pocket of her lab coat. "Speak of the devil - the chief mechanic." A few quick sentences later, Dr. Akagi hung up and said goodbye to Misato "Sorry, have to go back to the Geofront, something is off about the readings of Unit 01 and noone knows what's the matter. See you tomorrow!" With that, she quickly walked towards the door, leaving Misato Katsuragi alone with the packing boxes. Unit 01. The name whispered behind closed doors; the weapon supposed to fight the angels and save humanity, yet noone has ever seen it in action. With the fourth Angel, the reason for her being ordered back to Tokyo-3, having appeared only weeks prior, and both Evangelion Unit 00 as well as its pilot rumored to have been severely incapitated, this machine was the only thread to cling on to if a new Angel was to attack. She had only seen it once before, years prior; but she could never forget the dark purple head and those white, glowing eyes. Even when deactivated, this Eva had a looming presence over everything.

When Misato was finished unpacking the boxes, it was past four in the morning; exhausted and not having a single can of beer, she decided to go to sleep without wasting any more time. The next morning, she went to the supermarket again to buy some, as well as some snacks. Having stored all of those away in her fridge, she took a look at her new home in daylight. After entering through the door, there was a turn to the left; after a short corridor awaited the dining room with the kitchen built in to the left, and a door leading to the bathroom to the right. Juist after said door, she had, with great effort, placed the air-conditioned cabinet Pen-Pen lived in, after which followed the living room. The floor of the entire apartment was cheap laminat, apart from the two rooms adjoining the veranda and the one on the opposite side of the short corridor lading to the entrance of the smaller of the two, all three of which were equally cheap carpet. She had chosen the larger one as hers and covered it in green Tatami mats; although she had enough left over to cover the second and possibly third one in them as well, if she wanted to. Having done everything she needed to do for today, Misato grabbed a can of the freshly bought beer from the fridge, sat down on a carpet she had put on the floor of the living room and turned on the TV. She zapped through a couple of channels; most of them were reporting on a train crash that happened at the other end of the country, when someone rang the doorbell. She took one last sip from her can of beer, got up and walked to the door.

It was a tall, black haired man in his 30s, wearing a suit and sunglasses - one of NERVs intelligence agents. "Captain Katsuragi, you are to come to the geofront immediately, you will recieve further instructions there." The geofront - the giant dome beneath their feet, housing NERV's headquarters. Misato sighed, nodded and closed the door. So much for day off before she would get to work. As she put on her blazing red jacket and dark blue beret, Misato wondered, what could be so important to have her summoned a day early. She went to the garage of her apartment and was pleasantly surprised to see that her car had survived the journey overseas with no problems. The old Ferrari 328 was fresh out of the shop just a few weeks ago - it cost her a fortune, but the bit of luxury of owning a working, good looking Ferrari was well worth it to Misato. She drove down into the city to the elevators down into the geofront. A number of security checks and a good pile of paperwork later, her car was loaded on to a conveyor belt carriage system. the view one she got out of the initial tunnel and on to the rails leading around the dome was breathtaking: The majority of the geofront's ground was covered in vast green areas, with dirt roads just wide enough for a large car crossing it. At the center, towering above all else, were NERV's headquarters: A dark gray pyramid by the side of an artificial lake, and in some distance a handful of modern-looking, white buildings. Their purpose wasn't perfectly visible from the outside, but based on their architecture, Misato suspected them to be a hospital, barracks for the Japanese armed forces stationed here as well as some research centers, storage units and living quarters for NERV staff.

The transport system took her directly to the foot of the pyramid that formed the headquarters of NERV. Upon entering, Misato quickly found out that the departments she had worked in before were a breeze in comparison to the maze-like corridors of NERV HQ. Arriving about an hour late, she profusely apologized to the one who had called her in: Professor Fuyutsuki, NERV's second in command and right hand man of Commander Ikari. "Captain Katsuragi, you are lucky that I am tasked with your briefing on these facilities and it is not Commander Ikari himself doing it. Doctor Akagi, I believe it is best if you start with your part of the briefing; we are in the hangars anyways." Ritsuko Akagi nodded and pointed Misato in the direction of a large door at the end of the walkway. "Behind this door is the thing I couldn't tell you about the other day - Evangelion Unit 01." The mention of its name sent a shiver down Misato's spine: The ace up the sleeve of humanity, the wonder wepon supposed to save them all. The one without a pilot. As the door opened, Misato saw the giant machine for the first time in years: It was submerged in LCL, the breathable liquid also used to fill the cockpit during combat all the way to the shoulders, its arms were restrained in the massive walls of the facility and despite it being completely inactve, its sheer presence radiated power and authority.

Ritsuko turned to Misato "I believe you have seen the footage of Unit 00 that appeared on the internet - an unwelcome breach of confidentialy, but one we have to deal with. Unfortunately, I also have to admit that the rumors of both the Evangelion and its pilot being in no condition to fight are also true. The first child, Rei Ayanami" Ritsuko handed her a document "has been severely injured in a simulation following the attack of the fourth angel. Unit 00 went berserk and her entry plug had to be ejected forcefully." Ritsuko handed her another document "You'll find all of the necessary information regarding the incident on here. I would have loved to tell you more about the details of the Evangelion Units, but due to your, ahem, difficulties in orientation, we have to cut things short." with these words, she handed her a whole folder of documents containing all kinds of highly classified information on the Evangelions. "The next part of the briefing will be done by the Vice Commander himself." Misato went over to Professor Fuyutsuki, who was calmly waiting, when she was interrupted by a young officer saluting "Good morning Captain, First Lieutnant Hyuga to your service" Misato was caught off guard for a moment, but quickly got a hold of herself and saluted back "Captain Katsuragi, pleasure to meet." Fuyutsuki intervened "Captain Katsuragi, I fear I have to cut you short there, the briefing on the facility itself takes priority, although first Lieutnant Hyuga is welcome to assist; he knows the systems in far greater detail than I do." The briefing lasted the better part of three hours, during which Misato was given an extensive rundown of the defensive systems of both NERV HQ itself, as well as the systems in place in the rest of the geofront and Tokyo-3. She came out of it with an enormous pile of documents to read through and after she made her way home, immediately cracked open a can of beer and got to it: She knew it was best to not get on the bad side of Commander Ikari. The next morning, she set her alarm at an impossibly early time to make sure she would be on time - she was, but only barely.

 **-Author notes-**

I'm back to writing this after the better part of a year. Welp, see how long it takes for the next chapter.

Not much else to be said, so here is the usual list of new characters:

 **Obviously canon:**  
Misato Katsuragi  
 **Obscure, but still official:**

 **Made up:**


End file.
